ISLAMABAD: A survey report on financial Inclusion launched here Thursday with particular focus on women participation in economic generation and their access to the financial services.
The report titled, ‘Financial Inclusion Insight Survey, Wave II’ was developed in response to the need identified by multiple stakeholders for timely, demand-side data and practical insights into digital financial services (DFS), including mobile money and the potential for their expanded use among the poor.
The survey, launched by Karandaaz Pakistan an non-government organization, was based on over 6000 interviews carried out in 2014 with adults aged 15 and over aimed at providing actionable, forward-looking insights to support product and service development, and delivery.
Besides Pakistan, the FII Survey is conducted in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Nigeria.
Addressing the event Imdad Aslam, Chief Executive Officer, Karandaaz Pakistan, who elaborated critical Financial Inclusion information from various data sets to the market in a timely manner.
Senior Financial Sector Specialist at the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), Greg Chen who emphasized that while organizations tend to focus on top line numbers, financial inclusion is about more than just creating access (points of service within reach), or increasing the number of accounts.
It is about creating sustained usage (active engagement with multiple services) which can only happen when consumers have a clear value proposition.
The 2015 Pakistan FII report tracks access to and demand for financial services including DFS, measures adoption and use of DFS among key target groups, identifies drivers and barriers to further adoption of DFS and evaluates the agent experience.
Only 68 percent of those interviewed understood the concept of mobile money and of these even fewer could identify the full range of services accessible via mobile money – raising awareness about mobile money could thus help increase account adoption.
The report further highlights that structural issues such as the gender gap in mobile phone ownership (29% of female respondents reported owning a mobile phone, compared to 77 percent of male respondents) are clear barriers to DFS use and must be overcome to spur progress.
